Ken MacFarlane

I am an experienced graphite artist that only attempted oils 5 yrs ago. I am hooked.

I love painting the people around me. I have been published in Southwest Art Magazine in the June 2015 issue and have won recognition for my work in a variety of local, regional, and national shows. I teach art when I can, especially like working with teenagers.

Russell Mackensen

Having worked as an Architect for over 40 years I produced a lot of drawings and renderings of projects, but was not involved in fine art. Yet I have been "seeing" projects in lights and darks, composition, texture, movement and color. All these elements of architecture are the same ones that artists apply to their works. So in a sense I have been producing "Art" by taking 3 dimensional ideas and translating them to 2 dimensional drawings. The only difference is that those drawings are then used to create the 3 dimensional work.

Upon the urging of my wife over the last 30 years saying "you could do that" when we were looking at art, I decided to try Oil Pastels in October of 2009. It felt like a natural medium for me to work with as I was able to get what my mind was seeing onto the ground I was working on. I soon discovered that this was a medium not too well known or understood. It is the application of pure pigment in stick form, similar to Dry Pastels. For a more complete understanding please visit theOil Pastel Society.

I have been honored as a Signature member of the Oil Pastel Society, and am a juried member of The International Guild of Realism, Oil Painters of America, Faith Artists and The Artists of Texas.

In my life and my art I strive to give praise to the Creator of all. I believe that as a Christian everything I do is summed up by the scripture:

"For From Him and Through Him and To Him are all things.

To Him be the Glory Forever. Amen"

Romans 11: 36

Judy Mackey Signature

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

I have always been interested in art and took painting lessons as a child growing up in Japan but I entered the world of Fine Art as a Professional Artist in 2005. I paint mostly with a palette knife, with a heavy build-up of paint which gives my paintings a lot of texture. I like working with a limited palette of colors using either Ultramarine blue or Prussian blue for my blues, Cadmium yellow light, Cadmium red medium or Alizarin Crimson for my reds, and Titanium white, and occasionally adding Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre and or Magenta. I love being able to mix and derive new colors with the limited palette of colors. I strive to create beautiful colors and capture the light and shadows along with the textures in every painting. My painting style is impressionistic with simplicity.

My artwork is in private collections in Europe, Japan, Canada and the United States.

I have studied with Linda Stone, Francois Arenas, Judy Gelfert, Robert Moore, and Vicki McMurry.

Marie Maines

I am a retired first grade teacher who has always wanted to be an artist "When I grow up". I have a B.S. degree from Murray, Kentucky and an M.A. degree from Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, Indiana. My art training consists of classes taken at the Indianapolis Art Center, private classes, self study, workshops and many visits to museum and galleries. I have been doing juried art shows since 1996 and many of my pieces are now in private, corporate and museum collections.

Ray Maines

A photographer with a BS degree in Illustrative Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology who studied with fine art instructors such as Minor White, Ralph Hattersley and Charles Arnold.

My current work is digital format in both black and white and color. While most of my work is digital, many film negatives have also been scanned so that they might be printed.

Images are found where ever travel takes me. My eye tends to see images which are abstract or which can be abstracted through the digital process. Fragments and details of objects and areas also attract my attention. I am very aware of light and try to utilize it to best enhance the effect on the final image. All of the finished work is produced in a digital darkroom. The usual photographic techniques are applied digitally. In addition, some of the images are further manipulated in Photoshop and other software using techniques only available in the digital format.

Mark Malone

Mark Malone is a native Texan. A former country boy, he now resides in the big city of Dallas.. He became interested in pursuing art many years ago and after several years of study decided to make it his career choice. The inspiration for his work is quite varied. He loves the incomparable beauty of New Mexico and frequently travels there to gather material for his landscapes. Still life, abstracts, florals and wildlife are also represented in his work. He is constantly challenging himself to break out of his comfort zone and his work reflects this in a variety of styles and techniques. He is best known for his bold use of color and often tries to give his paintings a sense of “movement”. He loves to use palette knives and thick rich impasto to provide texture to his canvasses. He views art as a constant evolutionary process and says he cannot imagine doing anything else.

Felicia Marshall Signature

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

I am a painter who lives in Texas. I earned my degree from Pratt Institute. By beginning this blog I have been incredibly rewarded not just by seeing my body of work grow, but my work has also developed far faster than I thought possible. Felicia Marshall

Barbara Mason

Barbara paints for and from her soul. Her intent is to convey an experience, a story or emotion. She enjoys painting in a photo-realistic style, whether she’s using pastelsor watercolor paint. She achieves the vibrancy of depth and rich color of each painting by adding numerous layers of color juxtapose an often darker background.

Ann McCann

Although I am a PhD dental educator by formal training, I have been painting almost 20 years. I have been instructed by a number of well-known painters, including local artists Suzanne Kelly Clark, Niki Gulley, Sheri Jones, Laurie Pace and Charlotte Seifert; East Coast artists Henry Finkelstein and Robert Hunter; and Western painter Don Sahle. Much of this was plein air work in Texas, Cape Cod and Europe.

Color is my thing. I want people to look at my paintings and say, "O, what gorgeous color!" Collectors tell me that I “always seem to choose the right colors.” They also tell me that my paintings are “happy.” I guess that is because I paint scenes that make me feel good which gets conveyed to the canvas. I also like a thick paint surface with lots of texture, so I am mostly palette knife painting these days.

I have traveled internationally on painting trips to Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome and Tuscany) and France (Paris, Monet's garden and Provence). Painting on the bench where Monet did all his water lilies was deeply inspiring. Painting in the lavender and sunflower fields of Provence was both a visual and olfactory (heavenly) experience that I will never forget. Having the opportunity to see the work of the impressionists and the places where they were painted has greatly enhanced my own painting.

Brenda McDougall

Brenda was born and raised in North Texas and has always known who she was and what she wanted to be - an artist. Her visual ramblings and creative reflections tell more about who she is in her own special way.

Artist Statement

Art is not a fixed process but rather a journey. The process and materials I use to create my work start as a vision in my mind’s eye which is sometimes difficult to articulate in words. I love to use mixed media to convey that vision. The original uses of the objects used in mixed media, their texture and look, their placement in the new object, are important parts of the new message being conveyed. My creative reflections come from my soul, they are who I am now, tomorrow and forever.

My art is a reflection of my belief in imagination and wonderment which we all see every day but don’t really see it for what it is.

My painting is the language with which I convey my love for, passion for and excitement of my surroundings. I don’t remember in my life time when I wasn’t influenced by what I saw. I look for humor, beauty, color, vales, light, composition, and design. All of these elements, along with emotion, spirit and truth call for my desire to help people to see what is around them and smile at what they see.

Each time I approach my easel, I have a feeling of excitement to begin capturing what I see. I love the process and journey that I go through to create my art hoping to bring a smile to someone’s face. It makes me happy and If I can make someone else happy then my job as an artist has been fulfilled.

I attended the Sarasota School of Art, where I earned a BFA in Studio Art. I earned a second degree from Midwestern State University in Communication and Commercial Art. I am currently working full time at my home studio in The Woodlands, Texas focused primarily on painting, alcohol Inks, mixed media, and web design art.

Darla McDowell

Greatly influenced early in life by her mother’s creativity and her father’s affection for nature, Darla McDowell earned a BFA in studio art from West Texas A&M University with a focus on painting and metal-smithing. As a form of artistic exploration and discipline, Darla began creating small, alla prima paintings in August of 2010. Her work represents the beauty she finds in the simplicity of everyday life.

When not working in her studio, Darla enjoys spending time with her husband, Mark, and dachshund, Rodeo, on their family’s working cattle ranch in the Texas panhandle.

Jacquie McMullen

Texas artist, JacquieMcMullen, is an award winning pastel artist who has been painting and drawing for as long as she can remember. While she had painted in oils for years, an artist friend introduced her to pastels about 20 years ago and she fell in love with the medium.

She lives in Dublin,Texas with her husband of 44 years; Mac is a real estate agent with Brooks Real Estate in Stephenville, Tx. They raise quarter horses on their "Para-Dice Ranch" in Dublin. She paints every Monday with a group of artists in Dublin, is a member of the Artists of Texas, a past president of the Seguin Art League, and has been involved in the Austin Pastel Association, as well as the New Braunfels Art League.

Jacquie won “Best of Show” at the “2013 Art & Conservation Show & Sale”, sponsored by the Cibolo Nature Center and the Hill Country Council for the Arts, with the painting "The Ranch Road"; and an Award of Excellence in the 2013 LGAA Fall Festival of Art in Granbury, Texas ; with the painting "Hill Country Cactus"; and a Third place in the pastel division of the "2014 Art in the Garden Show and Sale" at the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. She has also won awards in the Austin Pastel Society Juried Show, andThe Huntsville Cooperative of Working Artist Show.

Other recent exhibits have included the 2012 “ Spirit of Texas Art Show and Sale” in Graham Texas, the2012 & 2013 “ Annual Art Show and Sale” in Breckenridge Texas, The 2013 Lake Granbury Art Association "Fall Festival of Art", and the Fifth Annual Artist of Texas Show "Nowhere But Texas" at the Dutch Art Gallery in Dallas, Texas. In 2014, Jacquie has shown in the Brownwood, Texas "Stars of Texas Show and Sale" ; the Artists of Texas "Spring Fling" online show; the "7th Annual Art in the Garden Show and Sale" at the Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens; the Artists of Texas " Somewhere in Texas" Fall online show and the 2014 LGAA "Fall Festival of Art".In 2015 , Jacquie has been juried in to the "Stars of Texas Art Show "in Brownwood, Texas and the Art & Conservation Show and Sale in Boerne, Tx.

Jacquie also writes a blog, "The Dublin Painter", where she writes about her daily struggle in living with Chronic Pain and still continuing to do her art. Please follow her blog which can be found on her website.

Nancy Medina Master Signature VP/Marketing

MASTER SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

The great American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "The Earth laughs in flowers...." Nancy Medina has found a way to express that statement through her art. Named one of the best floral and botanical artists by American Art Collector magazine, Nancy is an instructor for the Dallas Arboretum whose paintings are collected around the world.

Known for her bold, impressionistic florals and large container gardens that are immediately eye-catching, Nancy teaches a loose, bright technique that evokes brilliant color.

Nancy's love of art and gardening originated on her childhood farm in Scurry, Texas, where her parents were organic gardeners. Her earliest memories are of standing barefoot beneath 11 foot sunflower stalks in her family's garden. Nancy studied art history and illustration at the University of London, King's College, Chelsea, and oil painting and color theory at Texas A&M University. Today she resides with her husband and their 4 pugs in Flower Mound, Texas, where she paints daily from Flower Mound Art Studio.

Nancy has worked professionally in design and publishing for over 20 years. In 2013, she retired from her 6-figure corporate job to pursue her art and teaching full time. Her original oil paintings have been featured in print and Web publications and on the covers of magazines. When she is not in the art studio, Nancy is a volunteer for Dallas Fort Worth Pug Rescue, the largest pug rescue charity in the nation. You can contact Nancy directly at nancy@nancymedina.com.

Pat Meyer Signature Membership/Blog

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

Pat’s work is now enjoyed, and collected, by many prominent art enthusiasts from around the country. She attributes much of her success to the professional artists that she has had the rare opportunity to study under. Pat has studied with Master Artists... Robert Johnson, Qiang Haung, Judy Crowe, Daniel Keys, Clayton Beck and John Budicin.

She feels that their teaching, mentoring and and love of art have greatly influenced her personal style of painting. Pat’s main goal is to continue to grow in her art, to achieve an even higher level of professionalism by studying and painting daily and to share her knowledge with others.

As you look deep into the heart of each of Pat’s painting’s you will see that they are not just beautiful pieces of art. Each piece conveys it’s own special message of hope. Each painting carries a message of peace, joy, and beauty. Reminding us of all that God has blessed our lives with each day.

Carol Mitchell

In 2011, Carol moved to Texas where she continues to pursue her love of Plein Air Landscape paintingoutdoors and in her studio. She was the Middle School art teacher at The Odyssey School, (2003-2011) in Stevenson, Maryland, where she combined her counseling and art background while still following her passion for painting.

Carol, a Southern Regional Realist, portrays her subject matter in a representational manner, and combines the best of Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas traditions in her paintings. Her works include a color sense using saturated colors with warmth and vibrancy. Carol is very interested in developing paintings with strong compositional elements, and continues her studies through various workshops and teaching resources.

As a studio art major at Kenyon College, Carol received Distinction on her Senior Comprehensive Art Show in addition to many other awards during her painting career. She is a life-long lover of art who has traveled extensively with a career spanning more than 25 years.

She has studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, the Schuler School of Realism, the Mitchell School of Art, the Zoll Studio, and ClayWorks. She has studied with numerous teachers including Carol Lee Thompson, John Brandon Sills, Hans Schuler Guerin, Duane Lutsko, Scott Powers and Palden Hamilton in Baltimore. In 1996 Carol moved to North Carolina, where she studied with Andrew Braitman, Kate Worm, and Connie Winters and became an adult art instructor at the Braitman Studio. She taught at the Braitman Studio for five years.

In fall 2011, Carol moved to Dallas, Texas exploring and embracing the art of the West. She continues to pursue her love of plein air landscape and oil painting in the “Big Sky Country” of Texas. She has quickly integrated into the Dallas Art Community; she has become a member of a talented group of Texas Plein Air painters, Tutti I Lunedi (www.tuttiilunedi.blogspot.com). She has studied with Southern Methodist University Professor, Suzanne Kelly Clark, and was a participant of the 1st and 2nd Annual Plein Air Convention in Las Vegas and Monterey, CA. Carol portrays her subject matter in a representational manner, and combines the best of Maryland, North Carolina, and Texas painting traditions.

Elaine Monnig Master Signature

MASTER SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

Elaine Monnig's desire to be an artist began as a young child and was rekindled during trips to France with visits to observe the many great masterpieces in the Louvre and the Museum d'Orsay. Over the next several years, she continued developing her skills in both oils and pastels, taking art classes from Tina Szajko. She attended workshops with several talented artists, including Scott Christensen, Robert Moore, Huihan Liu, Dalhart Windberg, Judy Crowe, Qiang Huang, Chuck Rawl and Vie Dunn-Harr. Elaine has enjoyed painting throughout the United States, in southern France, in Scotland, and in the Cotswolds and Lake District of England.

Jennifer Moreman

Jennifer Moreman is an award winning, internationally known artist. She currently lives in Tyler, Texas with her husband Greg, darling 1 year old daughter and four dogs. Jennifer graduated from Baylor University in 2004 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Art. She is originally from Dallas, Texas where she attended Trinity Christian Academy. Jennifer has developed a fresh and original style of painting that layers multiple colors and allows her inner artist to completely take over. Her work is best described as captivating, expressive and whimsical. Jennifer enjoys using traditional subjects from nature and giving them a colorful, playful twist.

Mark Nesmith

There are moments when even the humblest of subjects transcend the ordinary to become something more, something precious, rarified, or even sublime. Maybe it’s the light, luminous and radiant and hinting at qualities beyond the merely physical. Sometimes the parts of the whole just seem to align like mythical planets and aspire to be greater than the sum of their parts. It’s often beyond reason or explanation, a mystery to be approached but not achieved. It’s the pursuit of these moments that gives a painting the power to elevate and inspire the perception of the viewer.

Some artists travel the globe seeking the wonders of the world for inspiration. I find the sublime in the everyday, transcendence from a car window. I find it in a glimpse of the sky dancing in the ripples of a canal on my drive to work. I see it in the silhouette of a tree passed while walking through my neighborhood. From the expression on a face at a bar to the perfect symmetry of a reflection, these moments surround and inspire me daily.

Many landscape painters choose to work on location, painting en plein air to attempt to capture these transient and fleeting moments. I find that I need some distance – both physically and emotionally – from the places I paint. I need time to reflect, to distill my memories and focus on the aspects that truly affect me. I need time to paint with a sense of longing. To this end, I paint from a combination of memory and imagination in the studio.

My subjects, though rooted in observed reality, are reinterpreted through time, memory, and imagination. They owe as much to my own interior perspective as they do to any particular place. I often work with a combination of several different digitally altered photographs along with my own sketches and observations to create dramatic compositions, always in pursuit of the mystery of the sublime. Through the continual painting, scraping away, re-painting, scumbling, scrubbing, and just playing with the brush, the canvas accrues a patina like surface rich with textures and layers of color. I strive to create paintings that are not just records of visual events but are events in and of themselves. There’s a history of my life to be read in the thick impasto of paint. I seek a balance between subtlety and bold juxtapositions, between the landscape as it is and the one I imagine. Painting for me is an act of investigation. I’m trying to learn something about myself, the world, and my place in it.

Mark Nesmith is an accomplished artist, musician, and teacher. He earned his B.F.A. in Studio Fine Art from Lamar University in 1998, and also studied art at the University of North Texas in Denton. His artwork has been exhibited throughout Texas, including shows in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Galveston, Houston, Lufkin, Beaumont, and Denton, as well as in Oklahoma, and appears in several public and private collections throughout the United States and overseas. He taught art and music in the Dallas Independent School District and the Goose Creek CISD, and currently teaches art at Port Neches Middle School. As a musician Mark performed hundreds of shows around the country with the bands Hackberry Road and Lone Star Republic, and still performs regularly throughout SE Texas. He authors the blog Paint Daily Texas (http://paintdailytexas.blogspot.com), and is a member of the Artists of Texas and Contemporary Fine Artists International. Visit http://www.marknesmith.com to view more of his work.

Dyan Newton Signature

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

Dyan has been painting for over 30 years, working in watercolors, acrylics, pastels and oils. She has studied with well-known local and national artists. Throughout the years Dyan has developed her own impressionistic style of painting, recognizable by her lively brushwork and bright, vivid colors. Her love of painting is evident whether she is painting landscapes, portraits, animals or florals.

The beauty of a summer day or the innocence and “awe” she sees on a child’s face inspires the spirit of her art. That is what Dyan wants to capture in her paintings and convey that feeling to the viewer: the same joy that she felt when she encountered the scene originally. Many viewers say they love her paintings' vibrant colors and how they radiate “happiness”.

The artist is a signature member of West Texas Watercolor Society, has won numerous awards and has paintings in private and corporate collections throughout the United States and internationally. She also teaches classes and workshops throughout the year.

Ricky Niell

I am an award winning photographer that captures life.

I think a photo is either a tiny slice of time or a photo can be a long period of time all condensed into one frame like theopposite of a video.Born and raised in Texas, my childhood was spent in Seymour Texas. My grandfather was a landscapepainter and taught me to paint and draw which became a life long obsession.My wife encouraged me to start RazzleDazzleArt years ago to promote my art and photography. I tookyears of classes learning to paint landscapes and used the airbrush later in a quest for realism but nothingdoes it for me like photography. Thanks to my beautiful wife and supporters of my photography, I now can do what I love to do which is photography full time.My favorite quote: “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” ― Henri Cartier-Bresson

Need photographs taken by a person that will try to make them all amazing and different? Call me.

Laurie Justus Pace Master Signature Founder

MASTER SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

Co-Founder AOT

As splintering light fractions into thousands of colors, Laurie’s journey in life has encompassed many careers from runway model to graphic artist, from musician to singer, from teacher to artist. She believes the greatest influence in her life is the beauty God provides daily.

A degree in Art, ten years with an advertising agency, and thirty years teaching art has come full circle to top honors yearly at international art shows in oil, watercolor and photography. Viewing a Laurie Justus Pace painting is a rich experience that drips with color and emotion. Her passionate works are alive with movement, boldly created with a wide brush and a palette knife. She loves working with oils, dramatically carving out the paint and transferring her energy to the canvas and ultimately on to the viewer.

Laurie is a co-founder of four working groups of artists, Contemporary Fine Art International, Artists of Texas, Daily Painters of Texas and The 5 Graces. She is Executive Editor and CEO of Visual Language Magazine and is an associate member of WAOW and the Oil Painters of America, The American Watercolor Society, Daily Painters, International Equine Artists and Professional Published Fine Artists. She is a listed artist on askart.com and artprice.com. She has exhibited and showed through out the world. Private collectors, senators, ambassadors and large corporations select her work to decorate their homes and offices.

Her artwork has been published and featured in numerous magazines, newspapers and books. She has been a featured artist in Western Art Collector, Appaloosa Journal, American Art Collector, the HITS on the Hudson Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix and in Cowboys and Indians. Her work has been published on the covers of Appaloosa Journal, The Appaloosa Mountain Directory, and The Sight Hound Magazine as well as several yearbooks, publications and CD music covers.

Donna Page

An "explosion of color and detail" are words used to describe a painting by Donna Page. A native of Dallas, TX. She graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a sculpture and painting major and as the daughter of an architect, dimension and depth have always been an important element in her pieces.

Amazed by the incredible intricacies in architectural delineation, Page landed a job in the 80's with an internationally known architectural illustration firm. The artist learned all she could about the theories of color, perspective, and shadow. After working as a freelance architectural illustrator for 20 years, Donna now enjoys applying the elements of "photo realism" to her own artistic interpretations. By taking a single flower portrayed in a "bee's eye view" the audience sees an everyday object with an entirely new perspective.

Donna works in pastel, gouache, watercolor, acrylic, and water soluble oils. The scale of her paintings range from very large to her small works series. She continues to attend various workshops to further her studies.

Becky Parks

Becky has always been interested in oil painting, art and architecture, but “life” put her ambitions on hold until recently retiring. Now numerous travels to Europe have enabled her to acquire the true feeling of Provence and Tuscany. Enjoying the same light in the south of France that drew the masters such as Monet, Cezanne, and Renoire, she captures the brightly painted shutters, the lavenders fields and the sunflowers of that special area. The medieval villages of St Paul de Vence, Gourdon and Eze to mention a few, offer many architectural opportuntities for stunning paintings. Had she been born in another time she would have designed the medieval villages of France, but now recreating their distinct beauty on canvas is her way of preserving the past as well as her holiday memories. Being fluent in the French language has been a huge benefit while traveling throughout France and Europe.

Becky teaches a weekly class in the Dallas area and gives demonstrations and workshops throughout the US and France.

Melinda Patrick

Melinda Patrick began developing her art when she was a very young child. Her paintings are her vision of the places she loves, the colorful cityscapes and ordinary people that catch her eye.

Melinda is a native Houstonian but received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She was mentored from an early age by her grandfather, a painter, photographer and graphic designer. Melinda is also a graphic/web designer and developer as well as an illustrator. She’s illustrated two children’s books for the Lavender Lane series. She lives, works and paints in a pine forest near her native Houston.

Anna Payne

Positive and negative-the energy of life. This is the compelling force that draws me to put paint to canvas. A subject that illuminates with light and envelopes contrast of color, texture and value while evoking an emotional response, I need to paint. I feel very blessed to have had art as a major interest and experience in my life.Resume:The medium Anna prefers is oil with a painterly style that can be interpreted as realistic with impressionism overtones. Painting subjects will encompass en plein air and studio still life which can take an extended time to complete.Anna grew up in an artistic family in upstate New York. Study included the Maryland Institute of Art, The Museum of Modern Art and with renowned artist such as Jack Clifton but it was at the Lyme Academy of Fine Art that Anna found the artistic direction and growth for personal expression. Anna resides in Texas with her family who have continued to support and encourage her endeavorers as an artist.

Terrye Philley

Those who know Theresa (Terrye) Philley can testify that she has an eye for beauty and a passion for art that manifests in the way she paints and the way she lives. Her art is a reflection of her optimistic spirit and joyous heart. Her work is honest, tender, intimate, and personal. She paints the people, places, and things that inspire her soul to feelings of joy and love. In her life, from her volunteer work to the way she cares for her family and friends, she is always striving to see the light of the world as more powerful than the shadows. In her art she does the same, expressing these feelings of wonder and love on the canvas to share with others.

Her work is best characterized as emotionally expressive representational art and includes still lifes, landscapes and portraits in pastel, acrylic and oil. Her life as an artist began when she was young, finding ways of making her world more visually appealing. Largely self-taught, she was initiated to the world of oil painting in her high school art class then later through instructional books and art clubs. She began making portraits of her native Louisiana. The years working in youth ministry and raising a family took most of her creative energy. After retiring, she returned to painting. As her artistic impulse grew, she began her formal training with talented and successful art teachers. She joined the local art league and the Lone Star Art Guild and has served as an officer for Katy Area Artists. Her uplifting art hangs in the homes of distinguished patrons, family and friends across the country.

Jim Phipps

Jim lives in McKinney, Texas and has two art studios, one in McKinney and the other in Fredericksburg, Texas. As a youth he loved drawing and painting, but his love for sports became a priority and he had a successful career in football at Waco High School and TCU in Fort Worth. It was not until 1987, on a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico that painting became a most important part of his life. That is when he met artist Dale Amburn and several other well known artists who painted there and in the Taos area. "I fell in love with painting and creating images of beauty with oil paints on canvas".

Jim has been creating art for galleries and private collectors since 1987 and is an active member of the Oil Painter of America. He is an impressionistic painter using the impasto technique with strong brush strokes and rich harmonious color to capture the textures and quality of light in his paintings. "If I paint a scene, it is because I want to go there". He paints in his studios but still works from studies done on location. "It's challenging when you're dealing with the real world of nature and its colors, its moods, and its drama".

"Painting is like a journey, always discovering something new and exciting. I want always to push myself as far as I can go as a professional artist"."

Linda Popple Signature

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

Would I paint if no one saw my work? The answer is a definite yes. I love to explore places, people and objects through the richness of paint. The buttery feel and color of the paint on my brush inspires and excites me. I enjoy exploring light and shadow with loose, soft brush strokes and pushing color. My hope is that I will continue this path for a long time.

Old masters and contemporary artists continue to influence my work. Through their talents I learn about techniques, color, composition, etc and the value of hard work on a daily basis. Workshops taken with artists I admire help to guide me through my art journey.

Suzy Pal Powell Signature

SIGNATURE MEMBER AOT

I have always drawn and doodled, and never had art in school. Finally in the late 80's I started painting as a hobby, first with oil, then pencil/pastels, and then in 1990, watercolor. In 2010 I started doing torn paper collages, and this year, duo oils. I never had art in school, so I have learned from books, workshops, artist friends, and lots of hours in my art room.

I feel very blessed by God that He allows me to create. He gives me the passion and desire as well as the ideas of what to paint. I believe it all comes from Him. I have also been blessed by my family and friends who constantly encourage me, and allow me the craziness that comes with being an artist!

My main thought about it all is...its just paint and paper, not a matter of life or death, so just enjoy the process and have fun!

Marchita Priest

Texas landscape artist, plein air artist, florals, animals, people, still life.. I want to paint it all. Oil painting, watercolor artist, acrylics or whatever medium is available. Art is a vital part of my life. I view the world with eyes seeking the formation in "that cloud". I'm in awe of the colors in each sunset, tree, flower or vista. Always wanting to capture the image or time in my mind. Thank goodness for my digital camera to keep the fog from clouding up the memories. Travel provides me with the fuel to burn in my studio in the form of photo's and sketches of what I see in this awesome world. Sometimes I can hardly wait to get back from my travels to paint. I do hope you enjoy my art.